Stakeholders

SKF interacts with stakeholders every day, during the normal course of business. The main groups of stakeholders are customers, investors, suppliers, employee representatives and representatives from wider society. We seek to in the best possible way serve these stakeholders and have many formal and informal dialogues with them. This is done via effective account management, PR, social media and surveys and allow SKF to better understand different stakeholder perspectives and concerns. Listed below are some examples of how SKF conducts these engagements with various important stakeholders.

Main stakeholder groups

Customer input is sought and received via the sales and marketing operations and activities which the Group carries out – from global discussions with key account managers to daily conversations between customer representatives and SKF’s local
account managers. In addition, extensive customer perception surveys are carried out regularly, or as requested by SKF’s business areas. The input received helps the company to continually improve customer value.

Surveys and interviews

In addition to the well established processes described above, we undertake specific surveys and interviews with a selection of stakeholders with focus on SKF long term success factors.

In 2014, individuals selected represented stakeholders including major strategic customers, employee representatives from staff and union organizations, investors and analysts and representatives from local communities. These individuals were asked
to provide qualitative and quantitative feedback on a list of potentially material aspects. This information was gathered through specific on-line surveys, direct discussions with customers and via telephone interviews conducted by a third party. Input from the supplier perspective was collected over the year via audits, training and other interaction carried out in the normal course of business. The aggregated result, together with priorities set by the SKF Group, sets the foundation of SKF's sustainability work.